A few years ago Poppe & Potthoff GmbH (P&P), a German manufacturer of precision steel pipes for the automotive and other industries, opened a state-of-the-art plant in Aika, Hungary, to produce common rail direct fuel injection components for European automakers. At that time P&P had approximately 400 employees. The number more than doubled recently when P&P purchased three firms, expanding its footprint to Belgium, France, and the Czech Republic. Together with its U.S. subsidiary, P&P has an international presence.

Solutions

Poppe & Potthoff, Werther, Germany

About the Project

P&P knew it needed to modernize its heterogeneous business software environment to help integrate its family of companies across product ranges, languages, and cultures; and to streamline and automate its processes.

P&P decided to begin with its Hungarian subsidiary, a leading high-tech manufacturing facility for common rail direct fuel injection components, where the need for adequate software was most pressing. Jointly with itelligence Hungary Kft., based in Budapest, P&P implemented the finance, controlling, and asset management functionality of the SAP All-in-One solution for the automotive industry. Within three months, the new software was live – on time and within budget.

“Our employees found the new user interface easy to work with and adopted [the] SAP [software] immediately. Even those with little computer experience understood the processes right away. Hungary was our test case, and it was a full success” Konrad Fischer, Director of Finance and Administration at P&P reports. A year later P&P added the logistics functionality of the SAP ERP application in Hungary.

P&P’s next step was to introduce SAP ERP with finance, controlling, and asset management functionality at its German headquarters. “This new project prepares us for future growth,” Fischer explains.

While the Werther implementation project was in progress, the P&P leadership decided to outsource its IT infrastructure with itelligence AG to lower its operating costs.

Johnson Matthey Battery Systems (JM Battery Systems) is a leading supplier of batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, processing over 70 million cells a year. Part of the Johnson Matthey group, the organisation also manufactures batteries for e-bikes, power tools, and mobile technologies.